green party regional council co-chair martha james resigns

Having held the post since February 2020 and after months of struggling to retain some measure of control, the Green Party Regional Council (GPRC) co-chair Martha James, who was hoping to stay until the end of her term of office, has finally admitted defeat.

Shaken by the resignation of a number of long standing members and highly committed regional representatives over the past few months, and as explained in her letter of resignation, she feels that “the Quaker principles of consensual decision making and mutual understanding are being eroded”.

Unaware of the well-orchestrated capture of GPRC by Identity Politics gender ideologues from within their regional networks, or just very naïve, Martha has battled with her own conflicted views with what she genuinely considered to be models of ‘good’ behaviour and her support for an ideologically driven re-drafted code of conduct.

The latest 9 pages long ‘guidance’ on Queerphobia  instigated by LGBTIQA+ Greens and approved by a large majority of GPRC members may well have been what triggered her decision to finally throw in the towel.

Not only has she resigned from the co-chair role, but from GPRC altogether, thus triggering one more regional election.

Now that this document which seeks to define what is Queerphobia – and therefore Transphobia – has been approved by GPRC and thus bypassing Conference, it will be used as a guide by members of the Complaints Referral Group, the Disciplinary Committee, GPRC co- chairs, its counsellors on duty, the Full Council itself and ultimately, by its own appointees serving on the Appeals Panel.

One may wonder how many more elected regional members of the Disciplinary Committee will be considering their own position when having to refer to a potentially discriminatory guideline in their dealings with formal complaints due to allegations of transphobia and/or queerphobia.  

Evidence of Martha James’ conflicting views about gender ideology came to the fore when in May 2023, and in the aftermath of Emma Bateman’s suspension as co-chair of the Green party Women because of her belief that sex is biological, she sought to reverse the decision of the Women’s Committee to co-opt Tina Rothery as an interim co-chair.

Doubling up as a constitutional member of the complaints Referral Group which determines if a complaint is to be held or dismissed, many victims of the weaponisation of the complaints procedure during her mandate may legitimately argue that her role in the processing of those formal complaints resulting in No fault Suspensions and further disciplinary actions against respondents was pivotal.

Whilst Martha James rightly calls on all regional co-ordinators and the Leader of the Green Party of Wales to hold their two representatives elected on the Regional Council to account “much more than they do currently”, her suggestion that ‘coaching’ could “help to develop a GPRC culture which drives forward the work of the party” sadly amounts to wishful thinking.